


RTAH Spy AU 2

by QueenCoeurl



Series: Spy AU [2]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Spies & Secret Agents, Espionage, Gen, Kidnapping, Language, Non-Graphic Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-11
Updated: 2014-08-11
Packaged: 2018-05-26 18:59:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6251731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenCoeurl/pseuds/QueenCoeurl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This job requires they kidnap the dangerous weapons dealer Monty in the hopes of making a deal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	RTAH Spy AU 2

Geoff flattened out the corners of the blueprints spread out over the large table. The crew positioned themselves around the dark concrete windowless room lit by a single bulb, eager to hear what this job would entail. The old brick factory basement was musty and crumbling, but for now it was home. Around the perimeter of the room old stacks of brick had been repurposed as counters for their computer equipment and weaponry.

Geoff cleared his throat, “Alright, so I’m sure you’re aware, but we’ve got a new mission.”

“No really? I thought we were in this basement to deal with the mold problem.” Michael crossed his arms.

Jack clicked on a small flashlight and scanned the walls, “Huh, well I guess that explains why my allergies are acting up.” He clicked off the light and gave a sniff.

“It’s bloody mingy in here.” Gavin complained.

Geoff looked at them with irritation, “Well it’s what we’ve got. If you have an issue with this safe house, I dare you to try and find a better one.” He looked back down at the blueprints, “Anyway if you babies want to actually hear why we’re here and let me move on with the briefing.”

Everyone was quiet and gave him their attention.

Geoff began the brief, “Ok good. So this is going to be a trickier job; HQ wants us to extract a person of interest and bring them back for interrogation.” He looked Ryan dead in the eye, “Unharmed.”

Ryan snorted and shifted his weight.

Geoff continued, “The intel we’ve got names the individual as Monty Oum, male, 33, and a seriously dangerous weapons dealer with quite the network. He’s recently been contacted by Burnie Burns, and we need to find out why. If Burnie’s trying to recruit him in order to supply his militia, we could have a serious problem on our hands.”

“Why would Burnie go to some back alley dealer? He has his own suppliers.” Ray asked.

Geoff opened up a laptop and placed it on the table, “Mr. Oum’s hardly back alley. He’s not just a simple guy importing weapons from the east and reselling them: he has his own manufacturing facilities scattered around the globe. He makes weapons of his own design that won’t be found elsewhere.

In short, we’re going to want this guy as far away from Burnie as possible, and hopefully get him to side with us.”

Ryan rubbed his stubble, “So you’re saying we want this guy on our side, and to do so we’re going to kidnap him.”

Geoff chuckled, “Yeah, kidnapping him from his house in the middle of the night. Best way to make friends. But really, the place is highly guarded by his men, and Burnie’s men no doubt have their eyes on his every movement. It we want the chance to talk it’s going to have to be this way, and if Monty’s less than agreeable… Well we return him home and our next mission will involve dismantling his entire network. Which – I’m going to be honest – I’d really rather not have to do.”

Michael nodded, “Which would explain why I’m here.”

Geoff nodded back, “Yes, if shit goes south you’ll have the coordinates of his facilities and be expected to do what you do best.”

Ryan pointed thoughtfully, “Alright, so why bother letting him go then? It just gives him time to prep and spread the word that we’re interested in him.”

Geoff looked to Jack, “Jack, would you like to take this one?”

“We kill Monty and we set off a chain reaction. He’s in with some powerful people, who – as of the present – are not part of our whole little conflict with Burnie. We kill Monty, they learn it was us, they seek revenge, and then they end up supporting Blue.”

“The idea is that if we can’t get him to join Red, we cripple him instead. Makes him no longer of value to anyone.” Geoff concluded.

“I can get behind ruining some guy’s life.” Ray shrugged.

“Well this hardly seems like a job for me. Why am I here?” Gavin was curious, “No safes to break, and I’m assuming you wouldn’t place me on the front lines to pick locks and get shot at.”

“No, no locks to break, but you do have another talent.” Geoff smiled, “You’re an amazing distraction.”

Gavin swallowed, nervous by what he could mean, “Wot?”

Geoff closed the laptop and began explaining their game plan using the blueprints of Monty’s tropical seaside mansion.

~*~

“You sure you don’t want to trade?” Gavin whined to Michael as they pushed the one man catamaran down the beach towards the water.

Michael laughed, “Fuck no; no one in their right mind would let you near explosives. Look, this thing doesn’t even have an engine, you’ll be fine.”

“But what if I get a cramp and drown? I ate a heavy dinner!”

“Well then you’ll just add that extra level of realism to the whole thing.”

They got the catamaran into the shallows, and Michael helped Gavin up onto the small craft.

As Gavin settled himself and cracked a few glow sticks to hang off of his neck and wrists, he mumbled, “This isn’t what I was trained for…”

“You don’t need to be trained to look like a drunk-ass tourist who got themselves lost; that’s a default state for you.” Michael smiled at Gavin’s glare, “Just remember how Jack has rigged this thing, and try not to tip it until you’re within clear sight of shore.”

Gavin adjusted the rigging to catch the wind and put one hand on the rudder, “Tell Meg I love her, and that I’m sorry about the whole carjacking thing.”

“She’s still pissed about you breaking into her car when you couldn’t find the keys?” Michael shouted back.

Gavin nodded, and waved in goodbye, as he moved further out onto the water.

Michael wadded back onto the sandy beach, he shook his head with a smile, “What an ass.” He climbed back into the pickup truck with which they had towed the catamaran. After wiping off some sand he dialed Geoff, “Gavin’s in the water.”

“Is he wearing the glow sticks? I don’t actually want him getting lost at sea; we want him to be found.” Geoff inquired.

Michael laughed, “Yeah he’s lit up, but I still think we’ll be calling the coast guard tomorrow.”

Geoff chuckled, “He’s a strong swimmer.” and hung up.

~*~

                “R and R, report.” Geoff’s asked through their ear pieces. He and Jack were set up in their little mobile command van as far away from the scene of the crime as their radios would allow.

                Ryan put his finger up to his ear and reported in, “In position and admiring the foliage.”

                Ray twitched and swatted at the cloud of mosquitoes, “And inhaling mosquitoes.”

                They were both crouched in the dense underbrush of the tropical forest that bordered the majority of Monty’s estate. Forward progress was slow in order to remain silent, but they had finally gotten themselves to the border of the gardens below the East wing.

                Both of them were wearing infrared goggles and closely monitoring the movement patterns of the two patrol men walking the gardens.

                “Ok great. Oh, and Ryan, don’t so much as fucking touch the target.” Geoff ordered.

                Ryan huffed in annoyance; he well knew his own reputation, but was still tired of being treated like some attack dog that needed to be muzzled at all times.

                “Don’t worry about it, Rye and I have got this.” Ray smiled and gave Ryan a thumbs up.

                “Proceed when clear, and remember, non-lethal.” Geoff reminded them for the hundredth time.

                Ray and Ryan both rolled their eyes, and did a final check of all their equipment. Geoff had ensured they had their fair share of tranquilizer rounds, but both men were still packing heat in case things went south. Ray had two pistols, one silenced and the other unsilenced in shoulder holsters, and on each hip was holstered a tranquilizer pistol. He had a large survival knife strapped to his right thigh, and a smaller smooth edged blade safely concealed on his inner left calf.

Ryan was slightly heavier equipped with his semi-automatic strapped to his back, but otherwise his set up was similar to Ray’s. He had his black bladed survival knife on his right thigh and a few other smaller blades tucked away - just in case.

                They looked to each other and gave a quick nod before unholstering their tranqs and lining up their shot.

Ray gave a quick silent countdown and on ‘one’ both he and Ryan pulled the trigger. Both patrol men went down almost instantly and they rushed forward to disarm them and pull them out of sight. Ryan rolled one under some dense shrubbery and Ray bent down some large leafed foliage to cover the body of the second.  

They flipped up their infrared goggles and hid in the shadow of the building, pressing up against the wall. They quickly made their way over to the nearest window overlooking the garden. Ray set up a watch, as Ryan quickly surveyed the type of security on the window and then worked around it to get it open silently. He tapped Ray on the shoulder and they both vaulted the sill into what was a large home office. Ray led the way forward while Ryan watched their six.

They made their way out of the office and down the hall, getting to the base of the main stairs uneventfully. It appeared as if Mr. Oum did not enjoy having his security personnel within the home. They stalked their way up the edge of the stairs and approached the door they knew to be the master bedroom, positioning themselves on either side. Ryan tried the knob, it was unlocked, so he pushed it inwards without a sound and Ray entered the room in a crouch.

A quick survey of the darkened room revealed their target quietly snoring in bed. Ray signaled to Ryan that the coast was clear. Ryan nodded and watched as Ray administered some tranquilizer to keep their target asleep. Ryan holstered his gun and came over to lift the passed out man up and onto his shoulder.

Ray moved to peek out the bedroom window, while Ryan shifted Monty’s weight and ensured the man had nothing on him.

“Come on Gavin, any time now would be great,” Ray mumbled as he watched security walk up and down the waterfront below.

“Even without Gavin we need to move-” Ryan began.

Ray waved him quiet as he saw movement among the personnel. They all rushed towards the darkened beach, “He’s done it, let’s move.”

“He didn’t exactly have to do much,” Ryan grumbled, shifting Monty’s weight again, and following Ray out of the room and back down the way they came. They reached the office when a hallway light turned on behind them and flustered voices shuffled about in the search of towels. Ray hopped out of the window letting Ryan pass Monty over to him temporarily while he climbed out and covered their tracks. Ray dragged Monty away from the building until Ryan finished up and could pick him up once more. Within a few seconds they were back in the jungle plowing a path away from the estate before making a beeline for the coast. Where the trees finally thinned out to make room for the sandy beach, Ray pulled out the inflatable raft that they had hidden there earlier. Ryan roughly tossed Monty into the boat, panting, and helped Ray push the thing into the water.

Ray gave Ryan a concerned look, but Ryan shook his head, “Never carrying a guy through the jungle again. Geoff can do it himself.”

“You’re not clear yet, move it!” Geoff’s irritated voice rung in their ears.

They got out into the shallows and hopped into the craft grabbing a paddle each. The onboard engine would have to wait until they couldn’t be heard, so they began paddling.

Ray looked back at the moonlit shore as they bobbed up and down on the calm waters, “You figure we’re far enough? My arms are noodles.”

“You think your arms hurt?” Ryan smirked when Ray laughed, “Yeah let’s get our propeller in the water.”

Ray looked down at the pajama wearing Monty while Ryan pulled the starter on the engine, “How many bug bites do you think he has on his ass?”

The engine caught on the second pull, and Ryan seated himself with a hand on the rudder, “A lot.” He steered them further out before turning towards their rendezvous point several miles away.

~*~

Monty was sleeping off the last of the tranquilizer under Jack’s watchful eye in what was the old foreman’s office. Dusty and moldy in the humidity it was hardly premium accommodation, but they gave him the best chair they could find in the place.

Jack was quietly typing away on a small laptop, looking up every time he saw a stir from their guest. The door to the office had rotted off of its hinges years ago and they had propped it up against the far wall. Between the open doorway and the grimy windows that made up two walls of the office, Jack had a clear view of the entire factory floor, and his colleagues milling about.

Gavin and Ray had found a corner and built themselves a makeshift sleeping area with some old pallets. It was far too hot and humid to use their sleeping bags as anything but a mattress, and the two of them snored away in civilian garb. Michael and Geoff were in deep discussion, sitting beside each other on some old stacked bricks. Both were taking gulps of water whenever their side of the conversation allowed, and from their flushed faces and tired eyes, it was clear that the heat was taking a toll on them as well. The heat had also forced Ryan out of his gear and into his civvies. He sat not too far off from Michael and Geoff, listening to their conversation and performing routine maintenance on his equipment. His semi-automatic and pistols were disassembled and fanned out in front of him on a sheet. His blades were out of their sheaths and awaiting his attention off to one side, as he took a wire brush and cloth and ensured to scrub away all the sand or salt that could have gotten inside any one of the numerous mechanisms. Each movement was well practiced and habitual, but he still let it take his full attention.

Ryan had reassembled his last handgun and grabbed the nearest blade when Jack stood and waved them over. Geoff and Michael stopped their chatter, and Geoff went with Ryan over to Jack.

Geoff looked back at Michael who had decided not to follow with a questioning gaze.

Michael shrugged, “I think Ray and Gavino have the right idea.” making his way over to the darkened corner.

Geoff shook his head and followed Ryan into the office.

Ryan stifled a yawn, as Jack gave Monty a large cool bottle of water.

“You want to go join the lad slumber party too?” Geoff joked.

“Nah. Ours is about to have a rousing game of truth or dare.” He realized that he had brought one his knives with him without noticing and then continued to clean it absent mindedly. He saw both Geoff’s and Jack’s gazes brush by the knife in his hands, and knew what they were thinking. Ryan cut them off before either had a chance to say anything, “Fine! I’m putting it down, see?” He tossed it and the cloth gently onto a brick stack just outside the office door.

Geoff and Jack looked back at the grumbling Monty in the chair before them.

Monty pulled the cool water bottle away from his forehead, “So who the fuck are you guys supposed to be?” He seemed more inconvenienced than afraid.

Jack took the question, “Well actually we’re potential customers.”

“Really,” Monty hardly seemed convinced.

Jack continued, “But we’ve got a bit of problem. See, we’ve heard that you’ve potentially begun dealing with a Mr. Burns.”

Geoff straightened and crossed his arms, “He’s the competition. First of all I’d like to apologize on behalf of all my colleges as to your current state, but we really didn’t see another way to get some quality time with you. As I’m sure you’ve become aware, Burnie has some powerful people on his side-”

“And you don’t want me among their ranks, so you get me to potentially contract tetanus in some dank hole, god knows where.” Monty interrupted Geoff and motioned to the musty office, “Look, I’ve been in a similar situation before, and before you try to win me over with reason, or loyalty, or the fucking power of friendship, I’m going to give you the same speech I gave Burnie: My loyalty isn’t earned, it’s bought. I sell to the highest bidder, so you better put your cards on the table.”

Geoff smiled, “Alright, then what’s the current highest bid?”

“What’s your best offer?” Monty smiled.

“Twenty million.” Geoff put on his negotiation demeanor.

Monty scoffed, “You’re going to have to do much better than that.”

“Pretty cocky for someone who’s out numbered and unarmed.” Ryan commented and received a glare from Geoff, “What? It wasn’t a threat just an observation.”

“Ryan why don’t you go check on the lads?” Geoff ordered.

Ryan rolled his eyes and left the room, picking up his knife as he walked away. He sat himself down and took the time to finish up with the last of his blades. Leaning back with a sigh he began to put his equipment away with the exception of the pistol and large black bladed survival knife he liked to keep on his person. The sound of movement made him look in the direction of the darkened corner. Gavin and Michael had woken and appeared none too pleased about that fact.

Gavin shuffled forward and kicked his toe into a lone brick. He instantly went down with a squawk and long whine.

“Gavin!” Michael exclaimed in worry and immediately bent to help him.

“CHILDREN PLEASE!” Geoff hollered at them and pointed to the exit of the building

Ryan chuckled when Gavin protested.

Geoff looked over at Ryan from the office doorway, “You too chuckles.”

“Oh come on.” Ryan protested but Geoff’s gaze was stern.

With a groan Ryan stood and followed Michael who was pushing a limping Gavin forward.

 In the sunlight the heat was much worse but when they found themselves a shady clearing with a slight breeze it became bearable. It wasn’t long until they felt significantly refreshed and then immediately bored.

Gavin swatted a bug off of his neck and jumped up to begin bouncing on the balls of his feet, “Hey Micoo, wanna spar?”

                “You know I have no problem beating your British ass.” Michael immediately sprung into a tackle of Gavin, bringing them both down on the ground hard. It was hardly a spar, and quickly became a wrestle, with Michael finally subduing a wriggling Gavin.

                “That’s not sparring, it’s rolling around.” Ryan waved at their now grass stained clothes.

                “Wot, just having a tussle. Easy to watch and critique.” Gavin sat up as Michael released him.

                “Dude there’s no point in a proper spar with Gavin, his fighting form is best described as ‘someone whose walked through a spider web’ on a good day.” Michael explained.

                “Hey!” Gavin protested.

“Dude it’s true, you’d break like a twig. Fighting isn’t what you’re good at.” Michael explained.

Ryan abruptly stood up, quieting both of them, “I’m not doing anything else at the moment,” He wiped some dust off of his pants and took up a solid stance, “Come at me.”

Gavin hesitated, “I choose life.”

“You’re fucking kidding right? He gets his ass handed to him by his cat, never mind a guy who kills for a living.” Michael scoffed.

“Then why haven’t you helped him improve? He’s going to get into a fight sooner or later and you won’t always be there with him to get him out of it.” Ryan explained and softened his stance.

“I’ve tried, he’s got little noodle arms, great at breaking into places, but can’t block a hit.” Michael was annoyed at the assumption he hadn’t tried to teach his friend self-defense.

“Look, your form is hardly perfect either; you may hit like a ton of bricks but you put so much force into each blow you’re lucky that they hit their target. Even one miss and you’re completely off balance, and easy to take down.” Ryan explained.

Michael was further irritated, “Well it makes me comfortable knowing that you’ve been taking notes. And you’re one to talk; you always fight with a weapon. A stab wound is harder to come back from than a punch.”

“The difference is I don’t need the knife to get the job done. It’s a personal preference.”  Ryan had fully dropped his stance by this point.

“And it’s why I carry a gun.” Gavin piped up.

Ryan ran his hand through his hair in frustration, “You won’t always have a gun!”

Michael and Gavin exchanged a quick glance.

“What?” It had not gone unnoticed by Ryan.

In an instant Michael’s fist grazed by Ryan’s shoulder as it was deflected at the last second. With Michael off balance Ryan lifted his fist to land a blow on Michael’s back, but had his own footing slip when Gavin’s arms tightened around his neck and the Brit’s weight hit his back. Ryan bent forward flipping Gavin over his head and throwing him down onto his back. Gavin’s lungs emptied with a ‘woof’ as he was slammed down to the ground. Ryan brought his forward momentum around and swung out a kick behind himself to force the oncoming Michael to halt his attack and defend against the blow instead. Michael pushed Ryan’s leg down to finish its arc with his forearm, skirting the attack.

A victorious cry from Gavin drew Ryan’s attention and he saw him hold up both Ryan’s knife and handgun. Ryan didn’t have a chance to even begin to formulate a response when Michael’s fist landed square in his chest. Ryan had barely any time to soften the impact, and knew that if a couple of his ribs weren’t at least fractured, he was lucky. He grabbed Michael’s arm as he retracted it and pulled him forward as Michael readied a left hook. Ryan used his free arm to redirect the trajectory of the incoming blow and let Michael’s forward momentum bring him into perfect range to be kneed in the gut. Michael saw his mistake and tensed his abs for the impact. It hurt and left him winded, but at least he wasn’t going to spend the night in a hospital with internal bleeding. Michael knew this left him open to be kneed in the face and put up a block. He’d seen a disarmed Ryan kill a man by kneeing his nose into his brain, and hoped that the man had restraint. He felt Ryan’s hands grab his head and thrust it downwards, but no knee came up to meet it. Instead, Ryan turned to face Michael’s back and threw an arm around his neck, using his weight to push him down to the ground. Ryan felt Gavin’s light frame land on his back as he pinned Michael to the ground waiting for a tap out.

With a defeated huff, Michael tapped out, and Ryan immediately helped him to his feet. Gavin slid off of Ryan to the ground as he stood.

Ryan ran his fingers through his hair once more and gingerly touched his chest with a slight hiss, “Sorry about kneeing you that hard, but I had to get you back for the sake of my ribs.”

Michael was almost doubled over grabbing his gut, “Yeah, no problem. I kinda wanted to see how hard a hit I could land on you.” He gave a halfhearted laugh that ended in a grunt of pain.

Ryan slowly lowered himself to lay flat on his back, while Michael sat himself cross legged and hugged his abdomen.

Gavin stood over Ryan holding his gun and knife with a smile.

“Don’t you fucking dare.” Ryan responded to his smile.

Gavin dropped Ryan’s gun flat onto his chest and ran out of his reach as the larger man writhed in pain and promised revenge. Gavin threw the knife into the ground, its blade partly sinking into the soil.

“I just cleaned that!” Ryan whined, “You British bastard…” he rolled onto his back with a wheeze.

Ray rounded the corner of the building and stopped in his tracks as he saw Gavin standing over the downed bodies of Michael and Ryan, who were clearly in pain.

“G-Gavin?” He asked unsure of what he was seeing.

“Hey Ray!” Gavin greeted.

Michael nodded at Ray and Ryan gave a small wave.

“Uh, yeah. Jack wanted me to let you guys know that you’re allowed back inside.”

“Oh goodie!” Michael sarcastically replied.

“Apparently they’ve come to a decision, but Geoff says you’re probably not going to like it…” Ray gave a sorry smile.

“Why?” Ryan huffed and got himself onto his feet, before extending a hand to help Michael up as well.

Ray shrugged, “Do I look like Geoff?” He gestured with his thumb to head inside.

They followed.

“Hey so about earlier when I said you hit like a ton of bricks,” Ryan spoke to Michael as they followed Ray.

“Yeah?” Michael responded.

“It’s more like getting hit by a fucking truck.”

Michael chuckled and cut himself short, “Oh god don’t make me laugh; it hurts too much. As for you, I think I’d rather take on a bull.”

Ryan also had to smother his laughter as pain shot across his chest.

Ray couldn’t help but laugh at them, “You guys should see yourselves; you look like total shit. How is Gavin unscathed?”

“Not unscathed; I’m going to be pretty much immobile tomorrow.” Gavin piped up.

“Ryan was too scared he’d kill Gavin if he faced him head on while fighting me.” Michael explained.

Ryan pointed thoughtfully, “No. More like disabling the guy that can actually do damage was a priority. It was also supposed to be a learning experience until you both decided to attack me once I lowered my guard. So fuck you.”

“I’m right bloody next to you, you sausages!” Gavin protested.

They re-entered the old brick factory and immediately begun to miss the slight breeze outside.

Geoff was standing next to Monty, ready to greet them, with Jack further back packing up equipment. Monty wore a sly smile, and Geoff looked grim.

“Hey guys.” Geoff began and gave an exhale before continuing, “We’ve made a deal; one Burnie will have difficulty matching.”

“But?” Ryan and the lads did not like Geoff’s hesitation.

“But it requires three of us to basically go on loan to Mr. Oum here. For whatever purposes he may require.” Geoff continued.

“What?” Michael was in disbelief, this was very much against almost every regulation. Yes they were allowed to pursue side contracts in their downtime, but straight up signing them up with someone else to do what they required? That was a new level of fuckery.

“Which three of us?!” Ryan was holding back anger at potentially being traded like some athlete, with no say in the matter.

Geoff put his hands up in a calming gesture, before listing the names as quickly as he could, “Michael, Ryan, and Lindsay.”

Michael was incredulous; his initial shock at being named grew into a fury at the mention of his wife. Yes they worked together, but she wasn’t even here to protest the decision, “LINDSAY?!” He blurted out at a loss for words.

Geoff who normally stood his ground when it came to his decisions, seemed to shrink in guilt as he rubbed his head and looked away from his men, “Yeah.”

“Geoff-” Ryan began in a calm yet stern voice.

Geoff didn’t want to hear it and immediately steeled himself, “You guys are professionals and have always done what the job entails, and right now this is what the job entails! It’s temporary, and you can’t be given any job that would arise in a conflict of interest.”

“Yo, you can’t just expect them to put their lives on the line like they do for you, for someone else.” Ray quietly but firmly spoke.

“No I don’t expect you to die for me, but I do have use of your particular skillsets in the coming year or so.”  Monty explained with an air of boredom, “And know your boss’ deal here rests on it.”

Geoff nodded, and looked to his men.

Ryan begrudgingly nodded, but couldn’t help but feel like a problem child being handed off to a sitter.

Michael felt similarly, but was still preoccupied with Lindsay’s fate. He calmed slightly when he realized that Geoff had traded both of them over. At least they would be together and he could be there to look out for her. Not that she needed it, but it made him feel better.

“It’s fine for Michael and Lindsay to be together, but what about me? Am I just to disappear for a year?” Ryan wasn’t one to share much about his family, but knew that Geoff knew about his wife and two very young kids. None of them knew what daddy actually did for a living either, and disappearing for over a year wasn’t something most careers could explain away. Not to mention he didn’t want to leave Laurie to take care of everything alone when she too worked a full time career. To be fair, a veterinarian was considerably the more noble pursuit, but it left her with her hands full.

Geoff who also had a family at home knew his concerns intimately, “I’ll make sure everything works out. You won’t have to worry.”

Ryan nodded in understanding, and held Geoff’s gaze to let him know he would be holding him to his word.

“You three have sixteen days, so get moving and get your affairs in order.” Geoff ordered halfheartedly and turned to Jack, “Get Mr. Oum here home.”

Jack gave a quick nod and lead Monty out of the building.

Once the two of them had left Gavin broke the silence, “KNOBS!”

Geoff clearly was upset by the turn of events, “Look I did everything I could.”

“Obviously,” Michael was still cross and it clearly came through.

“This isn’t about what we want!” Geoff retorted, his voice cracking, “We couldn’t match his price, so he gave us another option.” Now with Monty gone Geoff wasn’t hiding how much the deal was bothering him, “I’m not happy about this and you can be sure that I’ll make sure neither Matt nor Gus is either. And Ryan,” He paused, “I’m dead serious about what I said; don’t worry about your family. I’ll take care of it, maybe even get you some leave from Monty, but right now I need to work out a feasible explanation.”

“Any clue what we’ll be doing?” Ryan asked, changing the topic.

“Whatever he needs you to do, but I was extremely clear about the whole conflict of interest thing, and that you aren’t some kind of disposable grunts. Hell, if all he wants is a goddamn princess tea party, you fucking put on the tiara and tutu.” Geoff answered with a flailing of hands.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Due to Monty's passing, this particular plotline shall not be pursued further


End file.
